- Hello.
I'm Stephanie Kim.
Coming to you from the LG Digital Studio
at Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies.
In focus today, leadership
in higher education.
I'm joined by Dr. Kelly Otter,
Dean of the Georgetown University
School of Continuing Studies.
Welcome Dr. Otter.
- Thank you Stephanie.
- Great.
It's a pleasure to have you with us.
So, Dr. Otter, you've spent nearly two decades
leading higher education institutions.
What would you say are the most significant trends
that you've seen happen over the years?
- Well I think one of the first areas we have to talk about
is the advent of technology in higher education.
First, from the perspective of the change in infrastructure
across all kinds of organizations.
So in the 90s,
with the advent of the Internet,
all kinds of organizations including colleges
and universities had to introduce the Internet.
They had to rewire the entire institution.
Some people started using computers on the Internet
to communicate in completely new ways.
And at the same time,
we were experimenting with technology
mediated education.
And we're continuing to grow our knowledge
every year in this space.
So, what we're learning is that the technology
is a tool that we can use
not only to provide people new kinds of access to education
and reduce those barriers of time and space,
but we're also learning what the
the true value of using
the same time and spaces
and how interaction works
to facilitate the process of learning.
So we're learning a tremendous amount.
It's still the tip of the iceberg.
But we're realizing that the adult working population,
which is a growing population
in the United States,
is served very well by technology mediated programs.
As evidenced by the huge percentages of growth
in these kinds of programs.
But also we're learning how people learn better.
And we learn that people learn by doing.
Not by being passive learners.
And with the technology
and with strong interactive design,
and excellent pedagogical design practices,
we're improving the way people learn.
And we're improving learning outcomes.
We're improving how we assess
the value of those interactions.
And we're increasing the number of people
who can participate in higher education
who otherwise would not have been able to participate it.
- Right.
And could you speak to who are the new participants
of higher education?
- The new participants?
- Yes.
- I would say largely the people who otherwise
had to work full time,
people whose lives were very structured,
and they had to be very disciplined.
And could not afford to take two or three evenings
to go to school.
People can now learn when they have the time.
They can fit the education into their lives.
So evenings or weekends or mornings.
Whatever works best around their work schedules.
So, it's primarily that adult learner
is getting access to baccalaureate degree completion
as well as graduate professional education.
And certificates and other kinds of credentials
to allow them to improve their own professions,
to increase their salaries,
to get access to raises,
to promotions,
to new careers.
- Great.
That's really great to hear.
- Yeah.
- So you know, we've talked a bit about the past.
But looking to the future,
what trends do you see shaping the future
of higher education?
And especially as they relate to leadership
and changed management.
- Well I think even continuing the conversation
about technology and how technology is causing
so many shifts.
That along with that
the demands of a knowledge economy
are forcing institutions of higher education
to think about innovation in new ways.
So not only are we thinking about teaching practices
and thinking about how we design those learning experiences,
but we have to think about our,
the models in which we're providing education
and what that content is.
And in a knowledge economy,
it is just simply not possible
to compress everything the students need to know
in the traditional structures of a course
or a particular semester of learning.
We have to think about instead how
to help learners learn how to learn.
How to evaluate sources of information.
And how to assess the validity
of certain kinds of information.
To be the people who are engaging
in the learning process
in a critical way.
And who are learning how to learn throughout their entire
academic and professional life cycles.
So our institutions have to think about
how do we do that research?
How are we at once paying attention
to the traditional structures and the roots of our mission
as well as looking outward at the changes
of a knowledge economy?
And looking at the changes and needs
of all kinds of different work forces.
And remaining true to that.
And then what kinds of staff and faculty
are part of that enterprise?
How do we support them?
And what kinds of tools do they need?
What about the organizational psychology
and the organizational dynamics?
What will comprise this very innovative
kind of teaching and learning environment?
- Wow.
It's truly fascinating.
So, a bit of a personal question.
What do you think makes a successful leader
in higher education?
- That's a great question.
I think also, referring to the conversation
that we were just having about innovation.
In my opinion, it's critically important
for any leader in any kind of an organization
to understand the history,
the roots,
the culture,
the context of that organization.
And in higher education,
we're hearing the phrase now
that schools have to be run like a business.
And that is a rather controversial statement
because some people feel like
the missions of higher education institutions
are around the public good.
The social good.
And at the same time,
there are so many pressures on us financially now
because of the reduction in federal funding
and state funding for higher education.
So we're necessarily becoming more entrepreneurial
in thinking about new ways
that we can produce our own revenues
and be more financially sustainable
and independent.
So as we are thinking about this kind of new level
of responsibility for that independence,
the leaders have to at once
understand the business practices
that will lead to financial sustainability.
But also be able to manage and support and nurture
the culture of shared governance.
The mission in higher education
is around teaching and learning.
It's around the production and dissemination
of new knowledge.
Whereas in a business,
there's the ethos of the short term goal,
which is to produce revenue,
to make money.
So those are two very different kinds of enterprises
that require very different kinds of leadership.
Different leadership and different kinds of management.
So, I would argue that
to be a successful higher education leader,
one has to appreciate and want to preserve those cultures
but also understand and be able to manage
certain kinds of business practices
that lead to that kind of financial independence
that is a reality for us in the 21st century.
- I see.
Great.
That was very insightful.
Thank you.
So Dean Otter,
thank you for sharing your insights today.
- Thank you Stephanie.
- It's been a pleasure.
And thank you everyone out there for watching.
Stay tuned for more from the LG Digital Studio
and Georgetown SCS.
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